Maria Popova
@mariapopova.bsky.social
Creator of The Marginalian (once upon a time called Brain Pickings). Lover of books and tress. Petter of moss. Wonderer. Also: almanacofbirds.org
Pinned
Maria Popova
@mariapopova.bsky.social
· Apr 19
An Almanac of Birds: 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days
In nearly two decades of The Marginalian, nothing has stirred a more passionate response from readers than the strangest, most sidewise, most private of my labors — the bird divinations I ori…
www.themarginalian.org
In nearly two decades of The Marginalian, nothing has stirred a more passionate response from readers than the strangest, most sidewise, most private of my labors — the bird divinations I shared the morning of my fortieth birthday. They are now a book of cards:
A heron, a red leaf, and a hole in a blue star – poet Jane Kenyon (who died of leukemia at only 47) on the art of letting go
November 28, 2025 at 5:47 AM
A heron, a red leaf, and a hole in a blue star – poet Jane Kenyon (who died of leukemia at only 47) on the art of letting go
What do we thank for and whom do we thank in a world that is breaking? W.S. Merwin's stunning ode to gratitude as an act of courage and resistance: www.themarginalian.org/2025/11/26/m...
Thanks: W.S. Merwin’s Ode to the Defiant Courage of Gratitude in a Broken World
It is not easy, in these lives haunted by loneliness and loss, menaced by war and heartbreak, witness to genocides and commonplace cruelties, to live in gratitude. And yet it may be the only thing …
www.themarginalian.org
November 28, 2025 at 3:24 AM
What do we thank for and whom do we thank in a world that is breaking? W.S. Merwin's stunning ode to gratitude as an act of courage and resistance: www.themarginalian.org/2025/11/26/m...
Albert Camus on the importance of stubbornness in creative work www.themarginalian.org/2023/08/22/a...
Albert Camus on Writing and the Importance of Stubbornness in Creative Work
“There is no greatness without a little stubbornness… Works of art are not born in flashes of inspiration but in a daily fidelity.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Albert Camus on the importance of stubbornness in creative work www.themarginalian.org/2023/08/22/a...
For the truest kind of thanks-giving to and for life, a #birddivination from the dear hummingbird. Find it as a stand-alone print and part of the deck of 100, along with the story and process behind them, at almanacofbirds.org
November 27, 2025 at 11:15 PM
For the truest kind of thanks-giving to and for life, a #birddivination from the dear hummingbird. Find it as a stand-alone print and part of the deck of 100, along with the story and process behind them, at almanacofbirds.org
In these days of culturally encouraged glut and consumerism, a lovely antidote from the concept of "Buddhist economics" – a way of prioritizing people over products and creativity over consumption www.themarginalian.org/2014/07/07/b...
Buddhist Economics: How to Start Prioritizing People Over Products and Creativity Over Consumption
“Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:09 PM
In these days of culturally encouraged glut and consumerism, a lovely antidote from the concept of "Buddhist economics" – a way of prioritizing people over products and creativity over consumption www.themarginalian.org/2014/07/07/b...
Wonder-sighting in a bygone world – gorgeous medieval paintings of comets, with some fascinating science from Carl Sagan www.themarginalian.org/2017/01/11/k...
Wonder-Sighting in the Medieval World: Stunning Sixteenth-Century Drawings of Comets, with Carl Sagan’s Poetic Meditation on Their Science
“A comet is … a great clock, ticking out decades or geological ages once each perihelion passage, reminding us of the beauty and harmony of the Newtonian universe, and of the daunting i…
www.themarginalian.org
November 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Wonder-sighting in a bygone world – gorgeous medieval paintings of comets, with some fascinating science from Carl Sagan www.themarginalian.org/2017/01/11/k...
If you are going through a hard time, this #birddivination is for you. Find it as a solo print and part of the deck of 100, along with the story and process behind these strange creations, at almanacofbirds.org
November 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
If you are going through a hard time, this #birddivination is for you. Find it as a solo print and part of the deck of 100, along with the story and process behind these strange creations, at almanacofbirds.org
One of my all-time favorite writers — the paleontologist, anthropologist, philosopher of science, and poet Loren Eiseley — on contacting the miraculous in the ordinary world www.themarginalian.org/2024/02/03/l...
The Warblers and the Wonder of Being: Loren Eiseley on Contacting the Miraculous
“The time has to be right; one has to be, by chance or intention, upon the border of two worlds. And sometimes these two borders may shift or interpenetrate and one sees the miraculous.”…
www.themarginalian.org
November 27, 2025 at 5:47 AM
One of my all-time favorite writers — the paleontologist, anthropologist, philosopher of science, and poet Loren Eiseley — on contacting the miraculous in the ordinary world www.themarginalian.org/2024/02/03/l...
Love anyway www.themarginalian.org/2024/03/22/l...
Love Anyway
You know that the price of life is death, that the price of love is loss, and still you watch the golden afternoon light fall on a face you love, knowing that the light will soon fade, knowing that…
www.themarginalian.org
November 27, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Love anyway www.themarginalian.org/2024/03/22/l...
Proximity – gorgeous visual poem about reaching for what you cannot grasp, inspired by the wisdom of trees www.themarginalian.org/2021/03/10/p...
Proximity: A Meditative Tree-Inspired Visual Poem About Reaching for Something You Can’t Quite Grasp
Soulful sylvan consolation partway between David Byrne, Bill T. Jones, and the Buddha.
www.themarginalian.org
November 27, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Proximity – gorgeous visual poem about reaching for what you cannot grasp, inspired by the wisdom of trees www.themarginalian.org/2021/03/10/p...
The first and final truth of life – wonderful read from a wonderful mind (who was both a scientist and a poet) www.themarginalian.org/2024/08/11/l...
Of Stars, Seagulls, and Love: Loren Eiseley on the First and Final Truth of Life
Somewhere along the way of life, we learn that love means very different things to different people, and yet all personal love is but a fractal of a larger universal love. Some call it God. I call …
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 10:16 PM
The first and final truth of life – wonderful read from a wonderful mind (who was both a scientist and a poet) www.themarginalian.org/2024/08/11/l...
2,000-year-old calibration of Thanksgiving: Seneca on gratitude and what it really means to be a generous human being www.themarginalian.org/2018/06/29/s...
Seneca on Gratitude and What It Really Means to Be a Generous Human Being
“I am grateful, not in order that my neighbour, provoked by the earlier act of kindness, may be more ready to benefit me, but simply in order that I may perform a most pleasant and beautiful …
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM
2,000-year-old calibration of Thanksgiving: Seneca on gratitude and what it really means to be a generous human being www.themarginalian.org/2018/06/29/s...
Thanks – W.S. Merwin's ode to the defiant courage of gratitude in a broken world, the true thanks-giving
Thanks: W.S. Merwin’s Ode to the Defiant Courage of Gratitude in a Broken World
It is not easy, in these lives haunted by loneliness and loss, menaced by war and heartbreak, witness to genocides and commonplace cruelties, to live in gratitude. And yet it may be the only thing …
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Thanks – W.S. Merwin's ode to the defiant courage of gratitude in a broken world, the true thanks-giving
Wonderful short read on how to cultivate a healthy relationship with achievement, vital both for parenting and for self-parenting www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/23/s...
Presence, Not Praise: How To Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Achievement
Why instilling admiration for hard work rather than raw talent is the key to fostering a well-adjusted mind.
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Wonderful short read on how to cultivate a healthy relationship with achievement, vital both for parenting and for self-parenting www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/23/s...
"One of the functions of art is to give people the words to know their own experience... Storytelling is a tool for knowing who we are and what we want."
Ursula K. Le Guin on storytelling www.themarginalian.org/2018/01/30/u...
Ursula K. Le Guin on storytelling www.themarginalian.org/2018/01/30/u...
Ursula K. Le Guin on Art, Storytelling, and the Power of Language to Transform and Redeem
“One of the functions of art is to give people the words to know their own experience… Storytelling is a tool for knowing who we are and what we want.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:28 PM
"One of the functions of art is to give people the words to know their own experience... Storytelling is a tool for knowing who we are and what we want."
Ursula K. Le Guin on storytelling www.themarginalian.org/2018/01/30/u...
Ursula K. Le Guin on storytelling www.themarginalian.org/2018/01/30/u...
Vonnegut on the simple secret of happiness www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/16/k...
Kurt Vonnegut on the Secret of Happiness: An Homage to Joseph Heller’s Wisdom
The meaning of life, in a short verse.
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Vonnegut on the simple secret of happiness www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/16/k...
The Stoic key to fulfilling your destiny www.themarginalian.org/2023/02/06/s...
The Stoic Key to Fulfilling Your Destiny: Seneca on Nature and Human Nature
“The mind enjoys the complete and perfect benefit of its human destiny only when… entering the secret heart of nature.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 5:47 AM
The Stoic key to fulfilling your destiny www.themarginalian.org/2023/02/06/s...
For an act of resistance to the tyranny of algorithms, try the Marginalian newsletter—undistracted notes on the search for meaning, free, ad-free, AI-free, fully human since 2006: themarginalian.org/newsletter
November 26, 2025 at 3:24 AM
For an act of resistance to the tyranny of algorithms, try the Marginalian newsletter—undistracted notes on the search for meaning, free, ad-free, AI-free, fully human since 2006: themarginalian.org/newsletter
Dostoyevsky in Love
“I love her happiness more than my own.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:01 AM
A key to the prison of people-pleasing in today's #birddivination from the brown tree-creeper. Find the full set of 100 and the story/process behind them at almanacofbirds.org
November 25, 2025 at 8:02 PM
A key to the prison of people-pleasing in today's #birddivination from the brown tree-creeper. Find the full set of 100 and the story/process behind them at almanacofbirds.org
Stephen Hawking's only children's book (naturally, about time travel), co-written with his daughter www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/08/s...
Stephen Hawking’s Charming Children’s Book about Time-Travel, Co-Written with His Daughter
A pig and a supercomputer walk into a black hole…
www.themarginalian.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Stephen Hawking's only children's book (naturally, about time travel), co-written with his daughter www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/08/s...
Alain de Botton on friendship www.themarginalian.org/2025/10/21/a...
Alain de Botton on Friendship
“Ponder for a long time whether you shall admit a given person to your friendship; but when you have decided to admit him, welcome him with all your heart and soul,” Seneca wrote in con…
www.themarginalian.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Alain de Botton on friendship www.themarginalian.org/2025/10/21/a...
The most important thing to remember about your mother www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/10/f...
The Most Important Thing to Remember About Your Mother
“It is not easy to give closeness and freedom, safety plus danger.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:02 PM
The most important thing to remember about your mother www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/10/f...
Quite possibly the most empowering thing ever written about overcoming self-doubt and creative block www.themarginalian.org/2016/09/09/d...
Do: Sol LeWitt’s Electrifying Letter of Advice on Self-Doubt, Overcoming Creative Block, and Being an Artist
“You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Quite possibly the most empowering thing ever written about overcoming self-doubt and creative block www.themarginalian.org/2016/09/09/d...
“If you write what you yourself sincerely think and feel and are interested in… you will interest other people.”
Rachel Carson on writing (applicable to much more) and the loneliness of the creative life: www.themarginalian.org/2017/08/28/r...
Rachel Carson on writing (applicable to much more) and the loneliness of the creative life: www.themarginalian.org/2017/08/28/r...
Rachel Carson on Writing and the Loneliness of Creative Work
“If you write what you yourself sincerely think and feel and are interested in… you will interest other people.”
www.themarginalian.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:41 AM
“If you write what you yourself sincerely think and feel and are interested in… you will interest other people.”
Rachel Carson on writing (applicable to much more) and the loneliness of the creative life: www.themarginalian.org/2017/08/28/r...
Rachel Carson on writing (applicable to much more) and the loneliness of the creative life: www.themarginalian.org/2017/08/28/r...